December Ride on Price Mountain

[CraigCreekRider]

Sunny and 70-ish, one half day of vacation left. I have been riding over in the Price Mountain area for a bit, but Kapusta has only come over there for trailwork. It didn’t seem fair and it wasn’t too hard to talk him into a ride there.

We opted to shuttle since we were short on daylight. 7 miles west of Fincastle on Rt 606 at the top of the pass we started. The “ride” starts with about 45 minutes of mostly hike-a-bike.


A few of the less steep sections were ride-able


Several false summits




Shadow man was following Kapusta around.


A quick break at the Sulphur Ridge trail intersection. Another good ride for another day.


Past Sulphur Ridge, the trail gets narrow and chunky.


Short video



Some un-rideable stuff, but most is rideable at least in one direction or the other

Back on two wheels


Kapusta checking out the “Stairway to Heaven”, not really ride-able in this direction by mortals

An earlier pic from the same spot


Kapusta riding some off camber leafy stuff


As far as physical exertion, the first 3 or so miles of this ride ranks pretty high. Similar to Dragons Back, maybe a little harder than most sections of DB.

2 off-camber stretches require a lot of mental attention


After 3 miles or so the heart-rate goes down a bit

One spot has a view to die for

On past Kelly Trail, most of the hard work has already been done

I was there too


Kapusta entering the ”luge” section of Price Mountain trail, it is a blast



Good Stuff

[kapusta]

Hey, I had totally forgot to send you the pics I took. I'll send them to you and post a few here. Good ride.

[CraigCreekRider]

It was a good one Kapusta.

We will probably do a couple of trail work days over there sometime between Christmas and New Years. Maybe one day do a ride through from Kelly trail with clippers and a saw and clean that 2 mile or so section that still needs TLC. If anyone wants to join, PM myself or Kapusta.

[CraigCreekRider]

Map
Price Patterson Mountain Bike Ride

Everything is open on the Price Mountain side now (Price Mountain Trail, Kelly Trail, Sulphur Ridge Trail and the Wagon road).

[Doedrums]

So awesome. I have to ride with you guys sometime.

[kapusta]

Here are some of my pics:

Steve coming down on the ridge-line. There is a trail somewhere under those leaves.


Another section of the ridge-line:


Another shot of the rocky sidehill section.

[CraigCreekRider]

Thanks for pics Kapusta. It will not hurt my feelings to see the leaves die down a little bit. We need some rain or snow on them.

[swampboy62]

Looks like a great ride. The view, the ridge top, and the rocks - wow.

Steve Z

[CraigCreekRider]

Old Thread Revival. This is I believe what the main route will be for RIMBAFest minus the heavy leaf cover.

[OneSlowBusa]

Looking to head over this afternoon and check this trail system out. What's the preferred route at this point for +/- 2 hrs of riding? Also where is the best place to park.

Thanks!

[CraigCreekRider]

Looking to head over this afternoon and check this trail system out. What's the preferred route at this point for +/- 2 hrs of riding? Also where is the best place to park.

Thanks!

2 hours, I would do the Sulphur Ridge Loop. 6 HARD miles, but great ridge ride.

I would park at the bottom of the mountain on the Craig County side of Rt 606 at the gate for Hebron Road (sorry don't remember the road number). There is a sign that says "Scenic View - 1 mile". Just don't block the road. At that point you have 2 options, one is to ride the road back to the top of the pass - or go 1/8 mile back up towards the pass and there is a double track off to the left. We just put a sign there. Go onto the doubletrack for about 1/8 mile further and you will be at the bottom of Sulphur Ridge. The trail goes both ways. I think the best loop is to go right and climb the old wagon road to the top of the pass and Rt 606. At that point you come to Price Mountain Trail, take a left onto PMT and begin the hellish hike-a-bike. According to the sign, it is 1.5 miles into Sulphur Ridge trail. The intersection is marked well. Take a left onto Sulphur Ridge for about 2.5 mile ridge ride down to the bridge, cross the bridge hang a right and you are back at your car.

[OneSlowBusa]

CCR, Awesome! Thank you - hopefully I can snag some decent pics

[kapusta]

This is what I was going to suggest with 2 hours or less.

[OneSlowBusa]

Got a chance to go out and do a proper ride here yesterday. While the Sulphur Ridge ride is great if your short on time you dont really get the big mountain feel unless you ride/walk the whole 6.6 mile Price Mountain trail. A few new pics to show the summer growth (and one really cheezy self shot). Super high sweat factor in yesterday's heat

[CraigCreekRider]

Glad you got to ride the whole ridge. I look forward to my next ride over there.